More vineyard research

With fellow judges John Beeler and Tanya Cooper at Tanya's Llano County vineyard on Saturday, April 28, 2012.  John and I work in  the Austin office of the State Office of Administrative Hearings.  Tanya is in the Fort Worth office.  Tanya  and her husband Harold were in the process of planting 1,200 grapevines.  We were there to help out and learn about vineyards.  This is their third planting.  The first year's planting was lost to deer, who ate the vines down to the nub.  Deer fencing solved the deer problem.  Last year was year 2, and the vines, planted in mid-May, weren't well enough established to take the drought and record heat.  Most of them died.  We hope the third planting is the charm.

Papa Tom with a bucket of bare root grapevines.  The vines arrived from California and had to be soaked in buckets of water for a few days prior to planting.

John drilled holes with the gas-powered auger.  Luckily the acreage had been pastureland ; no tree roots to contend with.  And the soil was sandy and loose.  Nice!

Papa Tom, planting a vine.  We had to line them up with the  post, so a shield could be supported by the post to  protect the young vine from bunnies and dry winds.  Gophers like the tender roots; Tanya has reluctantly poisoned the gophers. Maybe not so reluctantly?  She says once the roots are established, the gophers will leave the vines alone.  Since grapes won't be harvested for another 4 years or so, the poison used today shouldn't be an issue, she said. 

Tanya's brother-in-law Greg, Papa Tom, and John hard at work.  Greg added the vine protectors after we planted.